It’s Friday – let’s talk Caipirinhas!!!

Yes I had been in Brazil before, some 20 years back, and yes I knew cachaça, the brazilian distilled sugar cane liquor, was very popular. What I did not know is that there are around 30.000 different cachaça producers in Brazil. This does explain the speciality shops found just selling this type of liquor as the one we stumbled upon when visiting the charming colonial town of Paraty, 3 hours south of Rio:

As we do live in Caipirinha heaven what could be better than sipping one of this marvelous drinks for a sundowner at one of Rio’s beach hangouts on a Friday late afternoon. My favorite spot currently for drinks and food is the Bar Astor in Ipanema but I keep trying.

This does not mean you cannot make those wonderful and easy to make cocktails at home, put some brazilian music on and enjoy. Here comes the classic version with a twist and my favorite one, the Maracuja or Passion Fruit one:

Classic Caipirinha with a twist:

• 2 juicy limes, cut into half wedges
• 1 tsp white sugar
• 50ml of cachaça
• crushed or cubed ice
• some mint leaves

In the serving class crush the lime, sugar and some mint leaves with a pestle or wooden spoon to dissolve the lime juices in the sugar. Top with cachaça and crushed or cubed ice and garnish with more mint leaves and a slice of lime.

Maracuja Caipirinha

• Pulp and juice of 1-2 ripe passion fruits (you can take the canned once available in most supermarkets but check on added sugar)
• 1tsp of white sugar
• 50ml of cachaça
• crushed or cubed ice

Mix everything together and enjoy!!!

Tip: get some larger/wider straws for this version as it will be avoiding getting the passion fruit pulp stuck!